Canterbury Tales Guesthouse

[Daveo]

The Universe In A Nutshell by Stephen William Hawking.

 

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Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time was a publishing phenomenon.

Translated into thirty languages, it has sold over nine million copies worldwide.

It continues to captivate and inspire new readers every year. When it was first published in 1988 the ideas discussed in it were at the cutting edge of what was then known about the universe.

In the intervening years there have been extraordinary advances in our understanding of the space and time.

The technology for observing the micro and macro cosmic world has developed in leaps and bounds.

During the same period cosmology and the theoretical sciences have entered a new golden age.

Professor Stephen Hawking has been at the heart of this new scientific renaissance.

 

Now, in The Universe in a Nutshell, Stephen Hawking brings us fully up to date with the advances in scientific thinking.

We are now nearer than we have ever been to a full understanding of the universe.

In a fascinating and accessible discussion that ranges from quantum mechanics, to time travel, black holes to uncertainty theory, to the search for science's Holy Grail, the unified field theory (or in layman's terms the 'theory of absolutely everything') Professor Hawking once more takes us to the cutting edge of modern thinking.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, with original artwork commissioned for this project, The Universe in a Nutshell is guaranteed to be the biggest science book of 2001.

[Daveo]

Greed by Richard Hall.

 

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Drugs, wealth, partying, murder.

These were the bad habits that brought down the 1970's international heroin empire, the Organisation.

Martin Johnstone was murdered under orders of Terry Clark and this is the subsequent account.

[Daveo]

Bimat by Robert A. Webster.

 

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Just when you thought it is safe to travel to South East Asia. Our feckless heroes return for their third and final adventure.

 

An abduction and ransom demand send the three into a perilous pursuit that will need all their strength and survival instinct.

Stu, Spock and Pon again team up, only this time it’s to rescue a damsel in distress.

 

Follow their hapless bumblings through yet another beautiful country in South East Asia.

This time they go into Vietnam, where they encounter another diverse culture and a disparate people.

Their calamitous escapades take them from Ho Chi Minh City, through dense tropical Jungle and onto the claustrophobic mud tunnels of Cu Chi.

They race against time to recover the cherished possession from an old, dangerous adversary.

This man is a cunning astute antagonist, driven by obsession. Our heroes have to steal the holy relic from the temple of the emerald Buddha and exchange that treasure for a far more beloved treasure.

Now fugitives from Thai justice; they flee into Vietnam to infiltrate the kidnapper's lair.

These people are band of well funded mercenaries, led by a nasty ex-Iranian Special Forces soldier and his conniving partner.

They are funded by a wealthy Arab, who is hell bent on obtaining a prize that has eluded him and resulted in his friend’s murder several years earlier.

Ravished by a terminal illness and in the final stages of life; he feels that he needs the item to avenge the death of his friend and colleague and to appease his god.

He therefore commissions the soldiers of fortune and their fearsome leaders to carry out his final bidding.

Although unaware of the reasons behind the kidnap; the lads have to find a way to defeat the overwhelming odds and come out victorious, or at the very least sober.

Assisted by allies encountered along the way; they fight their way through hostile Jungle terrain to locate the perpetrators hide-out.

A fearsome battle ensues, scaring the crap out of mummy’s not so brave little soldiers, this adventure is fraught with danger, with little time being spent in bars.

They not only need to defeat the kidnappers and free the hostage, but return to Thailand with the relic and clear their names, no biggy then.

Enjoy this hilarious action packed adventure as the lads witness the transformation from a war ravished country to the present modern day nation.

They once again undergo the metamorphosis from being mild mannered ‘Wasters’ to ‘Super Wasters,’ by the intake of the magic potion ‘Beer’ in this case it is strong Saigon beer, so not for the weak livered.

Zero to spannered in three glasses.

The three are now as close as brothers, they rely on one another more than any time in their lives, not only with their hazardous journey, but also because the past the throws up some guilt-ridden Bimats.

[Daveo]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig.

 

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A penetrating examination of how we live and how to live better

 

A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live.

The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism.

Resonant with the confusions of existence, this classic is a touching and transcendent book of life.

[Daveo]

Farang by Iain Corness.

 

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An insightful look into the life of UK expats in Thailand, portrayed with humour and affection, this title recounts examples of the idiosyncrasies and frustrations faced and felt by many British visitors when they first come to Thailand.

[Daveo]

Tao Te Ching: by Lao Tzu.

 

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In eighty-one brief chapters, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, provides advice that imparts balance and perspective, a serene and generous spirit, and teaches us how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao, the basic principle of the universe.

 

Stephen Mitchell's bestselling version has been widely acclaimed as a gift to contemporary culture.

[Daveo]

Too many women by Collin Piprell.

 

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Reader review;

As always, Collin writes from experience.

One cannot write with this kind of humor on Thailand without insight and knowing the place well, its pros and cons.

He writes well and can put a smile on a reader's face and keep it there.

This and his Kicking Dogs are my favorites.

[Daveo]

Sidney Cotton: The Last Plane Out of Berlin by Jeff Watson.

 

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Sidney Cotton was a pilot, a businessman who was decidedly shady and a spy.

He was born in western Queensland in 1896, and even as a boy designed cars and planes.

He served in the RAF in the latter part of World War I.

He later went into business in the UK (aviation and photography) and always operated very close to the edge. Various businesses went broke under him, but he always walked away.

There were also suggestions that he was involved in society blackmail in London the 1930's matters, and was recruited by MI6.

He had extensive business contacts in Germany, and frequently used these trips for aerial photography.

He later fell out with the RAF and the security establishment - but he will always be remembered as the man who flew the last civilian plane out of Berlin before the declaration of war. guns to Hyderabad (in India).

His business life remained varied.

He died a poor man, but still surrounded by mystery.

[Daveo]

Bangkok Noir by Christopher G. Moore.

 

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Bangkok is one of the great cities in the world, but unlike other great metropolises it has no noir tales to its name.

Bangkok Noir puts that to right. In this first ever noir anthology of Bangkok, twelve seasoned and internationally known-Thai and Western writers have come together to make a powerful collection of crime fiction short stories that portray the dark side of this Asian metropolis where the lives of most citizens seem as far away from heaven as its Thai name Krung Thep is distant from its meaning-City of Angels.

In Bangkok Noir, the twelve short stories of various shades of black involve gangsters and hitmen, love and betrayal, the supernatural, the possessed and the dispossessed, and the far distant future.

Titles in this collection include: John Burdett's Gone East, Stephen Leather's Inspector Zhang and the Dead Thai Gangster, Tew Bunnag's The Mistress Wants Her Freedom, Colin Cotterill's Halfhead, Pico Iyer's Thousand and One Nights, and Christopher G. Moore's Dolphin Inc.

[Daveo]

2Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham.

 

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The last word on the Rolling Stones by the man who discovered and managed them.

 

In his first book, Stoned, Andrew Loog Oldham recorded his early years and the meeting with the Stones in 1963 that changed all their fates.

2Stoned is the story of what followed in the most exciting period of the band’s history, 1964 - 1967, by which time the Stones had achieved worldwide celebrity, been arrested in a notorious drugs raid and split with Oldham, the manager who made them.

This book is the remarkable record of those years, the untold story of the Rolling Stones from the man who steered them to fame.

 

An utter original, a svengali figure and a hustler of genius, Oldham had, by the age of twenty one, made the Stones famous, made himself a million and spent it and revolutionized the music business.

Revered and reviled in equal measure, he had a flair for style, outrage, hedonism and success.

While he was managing the multiple recording sessions and the touring for the group’s first golden run of seminal tracks, he was also controlling the permanent storm of publicity around the band.

 

In this antidotal portrait of the “Swinging Sixties,” the Stones in America and the “Summer of Love,” there is also an unflinching record of the drug-soaked years after his break-up with the Stones.

Told both in his own words and those of his contemporaries, 2Stoned is a unique account of the charmed period when Andrew Loog Oldham and the Rolling Stones were invincible.

[Daveo]

Xanadu by John Man.

 

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Marco Polo's journey from Venice, through Europe and most of Asia, to the court of Kublai Khan in China is one of the most audacious in history.

His account of his experiences, known simply as The Travels, uncovered an entirely new world of emperors and concubines, great buildings,'stately pleasure domes' in Coleridge's dreaming, huge armies and imperial riches.

His book shaped the West's understanding of China for hundreds of years.

John Man travelled in Marco's footsteps to Xanadu, in search of the truth behind Marco's stories; to separate legend from fact.

Drawing on his own journey, archaeology and archival study, John Man paints a vivid picture of the man behind the myth and the true story of the great court of Kublai Khan.

[Daveo]

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene.

 

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Brian Greene The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos explores our most current scientific understanding of the universe, the 'string theory' that might hold the key to unifying nature's laws, and our continuing quest to know more.

 

There was a time when 'universe' meant all there is.

Everything.

Yet, as physicist Brian Greene's extraordinary book shows, ours may be just one universe among many, like endless reflections in a mirror.

 

He takes us on a captivating exploration of parallel worlds, from a multiverse where an infinite number of your doppelgangers are reading this sentence, to vast oceans of bubble universes and even multiverses made of mathematics, showing just how much of reality's true nature may be hidden within them.

[Daveo]

All I Can Be by Nathan Buckley.

 

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Arguably the greatest player to represent Australia's most famous football club, Nathan Buckley's extraordinary achievements include a Brownlow Medal, a Norm Smith Medal, six club best and fairest awards and nine seasons as captain of Collingwood.

 

All I Can Be is the inspiring story of a true sporting legend, who gave his all but never experienced the glory of an AFL premiership.

Together with frank commentary from family, friends, teammates, coaches and opponents, Buckley's brutally honest insights provide a rare, compelling glimpse into the heart and mind of one of football's finest, and his relentless quest to become the best he could be.

[Daveo]

Lifers: Ireland’s evil killers and how they were caught

by Barry Cummins.

 

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There is only one penalty for committing murder in Ireland: mandatory life imprisonment.

It makes no difference if you plead guilty or if you're convicted by a jury.

The sentence remains the same. It's been like this for fifty years since the death sentence was abolished.

In 1954, when Michael Manning became the last man hanged for murder in Ireland, there were only a handful of life sentence prisoners in Irish jails.

Now there are almost two hundred behind bars, with many more on temporary release for good behavior.

In Lifers, Barry Cummins, crime reporter and bestselling author of Missing, charts the last half century of murder in Ireland.

Among the cases in Lifers is Ireland's longest serving prisoner, who has been in prison for over forty years but refuses to apply for parole.

Also profiled are random killers John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, who abducted and murdered women in Counties Wicklow and Mayo in 1976.

Then there is the twenty three year investigation into the murder of Kildare woman Phyllis Murphy which saw John Crerar jailed for life in 2002.

Lifers is not just an in depth look at how some of Ireland's most evil killers were caught.

It highlights issues that the criminal justice system must address.

Lifers argues that it is the families of murder victims who are the people really serving a life sentence.

This is a riveting book that raises matters of profound public concern.

[Daveo]

Rules of Engagement: A Life in Conflict by Tim Collins.

 

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From the moment Tim Collins’s speech to his men in Iraq was made public, this soldier thinker became a hero and an inspiration to world leaders and infantrymen alike.

To a public suspicious about the motives for war, he offered some explanation for it and inspired a mood of optimism and humanity that has since been sadly lost.

And yet, only two months later Collins was pilloried by two national newspapers and accused of war crimes.

But this is only part of his story.

From taking command of 1 Royal Irish in the aftermath of the Sierra Leone hostage crisis to combating the Loyalist murder gangs in East Tyrone, Rules of Engagement is a powerful memoir that offers a frank and compelling insight into the realities of warfare and a life lived on the frontline.

[Daveo]

The Big Blowdown by George Pelecanos.

 

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Washington DC, 1946.

For two local young men, Pete Karras and Joey Recevo, the easiest way to find work after the war is by providing a little muscle for a local boss who runs a protection racket with the Mafia.

The trouble with Pete Karras is that he is just too soft on his fellow immigrants, and the last thing the boss wants is for his mob to get soft.

The boys have to teach Karras a painful lesson that he won't forget.

Three years later Pete and Joey meet up once more and a final confrontation puts the meaning of friendship and honour to the ultimate test.

"The Big Blowdown" is the first novel in Pelecanos' acclaimed "Washington Quartet".

[Daveo]

Street Boys by Lorenzo Carcaterra.

 

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Naples, Italy, during four fateful days in the fall of 1943.

The only people left in the shattered, bombed out city are the lost, abandoned children whose only goal is to survive another day.

None could imagine that they would become fearless fighters and the unlikeliest heroes of World War II.

They are the warriors immortalized in Street Boys, Lorenzo Carcaterra exhilarating new novel, a book that exceeds even his bestselling Sleepers as a riveting reading experience.

 

It’s late September.

The war in Europe is almost won, Italy is leaderless, Mussolini already arrested by anti-Fascists.

The German army has evacuated the city of Naples, adults, even entire families, have been marched off to work camps or simply sent off to their deaths.

Now, the German army is moving toward Naples to finish the job, their chilling instructions are: If the city can’t belong to Hitler, it will belong to no one.

 

No one but children, children who have been orphaned or hidden by parents in a last, defiant gesture against the Nazis. Children, some as young as ten years old, armed with just a handful of guns, unexploded bombs, and their own ingenuity. Children who are determined to take on the advancing enemy and save the city, or die trying.

 

There is Vincenzo Soldari, a sixteen year old history buff who is determined to make history by leading others with courage and self-confidence; Carlo Maldini, a middle aged drunkard desperate to redeem himself by adding his experience to the raw exuberance of the young fighters; Nunzia Maldini, his nineteen year old daughter, who helps her father regain his self-respect and loses her heart to an American G.I.; Corporal Steve Connors, a soldier sent out on reconnaissance, then cut off from his comrades, with no choice but to aid the street boys, Colonel Rudolph Van Klaus, the proud Nazi commander shamed by his own sadistic mission and, of course, the dozens of young boys who use their few skills and great heart to try to save their city, their country, and themselves.

 

In its compassionate portrait of the rootless young and its pitiless portrayal of the violence that is at once their world and their way out, Street Boys continues and deepens Lorenzo Carcaterra’s trademark themes.

In its awesome scope and pure page turning excitement, it stands as a stirring tribute to the underdog in us all and as a singular addition to the novels about World War II.

[Daveo]

A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett.

 

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In a brutal world, charismatic rebel miner Mack McAsh, a slave by birth, is a man with the courage to stand up for what is right, and the strength to stick by his beliefs.

Independent, rebellious Lizzie Hallim, meanwhile, is engaged to Jay Jamisson, the ruthless landlord's son and heir to an exploitative business empire.

 

Born into separate worlds, Mack and Lizzie are thrown together when Mack becomes an enemy of the state and is forced to flee his homeland.

Lizzie aids his escape, and it is not long before passions rage in the old world as well as the new.

 

Set in an era of turbulent social changes, A Place Called Freedom is a magnificent novel from the undisputed master of suspense and drama, Ken Follett.

[Daveo]

Bangkok Rules by Harlan Wolff, ex Bangkok Private eye of 30 years.

 

Available now at Canterbury Tales Bookshop Pattaya.

Was happy to receive a visit from a truly fascinating Bangkokian now residing in Pattaya's leafy outskirts, Harlan Wolff.
Author of Bangkok Rules; after reading some of Harlan's online snippets makes you realise the book is a must read and is now available Brand new at Canterbury Tales Bookshop -- 90 baht cheaper than the big book chains @ 300 baht and Signed by the man himself.
Read some of Harlan's musings here;
http://www.harlanwolff.com/…/how-i-became-a-private-eye-in…/

[Daveo]

A man boarded an airplane and took his seat. As he settled in, he glanced Up and saw the most beautiful woman boarding the plane. He soon realized She was heading straight towards his seat. As fate would have it, she took The seat right beside his. Eager to strike up a conversation he blurted out, “Business trip or pleasure?”

She turned, smiled and said, “Business. I’m going to the Annual Nymphomaniacs of America Convention in Boston."

He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen Sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting of nymphomaniacs!

Struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, “What’s your Business at this convention?”

“Lecturer,” she responded. “I use information that I have learned from my Personal experiences to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality.”

“Really?” he said. “And what kind of myths are there?”

“Well,” she explained, “one popular myth is that African-American men are The most well-endowed of all men, when in fact it is the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is That Frenchmen are the best lovers, when actually it is Scotsmen who are the best. I have also discovered that the lover with Absolutely the best stamina is the Irish

Suddenly the woman became a little uncomfortable and blushed.. “I’m Sorry,” she said, “I shouldn't really be discussing all of this with you. I don’t Even know your name.”

“Tonto,” the man said, “Tonto McTavish but my friends call me Paddy".

[Daveo]

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Your Dreams

by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen.

 

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In the years since it was first published, the magic of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" has touched the hearts and minds of more than 70 million readers from all walks of life with its stories of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things.

With its powerful message of hope and inspiration, the series that Newsweek called "a publishing phenomenon" has taught readers that dreams really do come true for those who dare to believe that any obstacle, no matter how daunting, can be overcome with persistence, patience and belief in oneself.

 

In this commemorative tenth anniversary edition, readers will find fifty of the best loved stories from the series, those that exemplify the spirit of Chicken Soup and its ability to illuminate the path we all walk on.

Included are poignant letters from readers whose lives were transformed by what they read and a special section written by coauthors, master motivators Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, on the special principles of living your dreams that everyone can follow.

 

This keepsake edition is a must have for every reader who has ever opened his or her heart to the goodness and grace that is "Chicken Soup for the Soul."

[Daveo]

The Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury.

 

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A deadly quest to uncover an ancient secret that has destroyed everyone in its path for centuries...

 

Portugal, 1705. In the dungeons of a Templar castle, a dying old man bequeaths an ancient, half burnt book to his young inquisitor.

Keeping one step ahead of those who would kill to wrench the book's secret from his hands, the inquisitor turns his back on his calling and sets off on an impossible journey to complete the old man's quest.

 

Baghdad, 2003.

A military unit makes a horrifying discovery: a hidden state of the art lab, where dozens of men, women and children have died.

The scientist they were hunting is believed to be working on a bio weapons programme.

But the man known only as the hakeem, the doctor, has escaped, taking with him the startling truth about his work ...

[Daveo]

Dead Man's Time by Peter James.

 

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Some will wait a lifetime to take their revenge. . .

 

A vicious robbery at a secluded Brighton mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying.

Millions of pounds' worth of valuables have been stolen.

 

But as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, heading the enquiry, rapidly learns, there is one priceless item of sentimental value that her powerful family cherish above all else.

And they are fully prepared to take the law into their own hands, and will do anything, absolutely anything to get it back.

 

Within days, Grace is racing against the clock, following a murderous trail that leads him from the shady antiques world of Brighton, across Europe, and all the way back to the New York waterfront gang struggles of 1922, chasing a killer driven by the force of one man's greed and another man's fury.

 

Dead Man's Time is the ninth novel in the multi million copy bestselling Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, from the number one chart topper, Peter James.

[Daveo]

Medusa by Hammond Innes.

 

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HMS Medusa is an obsolete frigate with an ill assorted crew and an insecure captain.

Why has she been dispatched under secret orders to be a sitting duck in one of the most vital ports of the Mediterranean?

The author has written 27 novels including "The Lonely Skier" and "Campbell's Kingdom".

[Daveo]

The Fear Index: A gripping race against time financial thriller, from the award winning master of the literary thriller genre

by Robert Harris.

 

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Meet Alex Hoffmann: among the secretive inner circle of the ultra rich, he is something of a legend.

 

Based in Geneva, he has developed a revolutionary system that has the power to manipulate financial markets. Generating billions of dollars, it is a system that thrives on panic and feeds on fear.

 

And then, in the early hours of one morning, while he lies asleep, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside home.

 

Meet Alex Hoffmann: among the secretive inner circle of the ultra rich, he is something of a legendrian to discover who is trying to destroy him before it's too late ...